EMBASSY ROW
Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Mexico Hammad G. M. al-Rowaily commemorated the 86th anniversary of the founding of that Western Asian kingdom last week with a diplomatic reception and lavish buffet luncheon at his Lomas Altas residence last week.
After welcoming his guests, Al-Rowaily spoke briefly about his government’s efforts to invest in the country’s human resources, promoting international advanced education for all young people and developing new high-tech sectors to provide work opportunities and a higher standard of living for all Saudi citizens.
Al-Rowaily said that, since its foundation in 1932, the kingdom has sought “development plans aimed at incorporating the Saudi citizen as the base for progress.”
It is this commitment to the Saudi people, Al-Rowaily said, that has allowed the Arab kingdom to advance and become a crucial player in regional affairs.
That focus on human resources has also been instrumental in ensuring social and political stability for the largest country in the Arabian Gulf, despite security, economic and political challenges in other parts of the region.
Al-Rowaily said that, throughout the last decades, the country has also managed to establish a modern state with an important role and influence in the international arena, politically and economically, with an active participation in multilateral forums such as the United Nations and G-20.
The ambassador accredited much of his country’s success to the forward-thinking vision of King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, which Al-Rowaily said is focused on a comprehensive development based on the kingdom’s fundamental principles.
The envoy also spoke about Saudi Arabia’s deepening relationship with Mexico, noting that the visit of President Enrique Peña Nieto to Riyadh at the start of this year constituted a “key cornerstone” in the construction of an even more diversified and broader friendship.
Al-Rowaily said that that visit, along with several subsequent visits to Saudi Arabia by high-level Mexican officials, helped to lay the foundation for a “new era of bilateral cooperation.”
Al-Rowaily said that his country has a “special bilateral relationship with Mexico dating back 64 years.”
“We have signed various bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding in different fields of cooperation which reflect the spirit of our cordial bilateral relations,” he said.
But Al-Rowaily also admitted that two-way trade is still not at a level that he would like, adding that given the recent impetus in the binational friendship, this is an ideal time to increase commercial and economic cooperation.
Currently, combined bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and Mexico amounts to about $1 billion annually, with the balance heavily weighted in Riyadh’s favor because the Saudis sell Mexico large quantities of gasoline and other petrochemical products.
There is also some Saudi investment in Mexico through Sabic (the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation), which has owned and operated a plastics and polymer factory in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí for more than 19 years.
In 1902, Abd al-Aziz bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud, considered to be the father of modern Saudi Arabia, captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the entire peninsula.
The once-divided region was finally consolidated into a single nation in September of 1932, and today, the oil-rich monarchy is led by Abd al-Aziz’ descendent Salman.
Saudi Arabia was plagued by serious terror attacks in 2003, which spurred a strong ongoing campaign against domestic terrorism and extremism.
The kingdom instituted an interfaith dialogue initiative in 2008 to encourage religious tolerance on a global level.
Saudi Arabia boasts about 17 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, currently ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum and plays a leading role in Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which is was a founding member in 1960.
The petroleum sector accounts for about 80 percent of Saudi Arabia’s budget revenues, 45 percent of its GDP and 90 percent of its export earnings.
Notwithstanding, the country is now working to pursue economic reforms and diversification, particularly since Saudi Arabia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005.
Diversification efforts are focusing on power generation, telecommunications, natural gas exploration and petrochemical sectors, with a heavy push toward more private-sector growth in order to expand the nation’s export portfolio and provide more jobs for Saudi nationals.
As custodian of the two holiest mosques in Islam — Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina — Saudi Arabia is considered to be the cradle of Islam, which dates back than 1,400 years and is the world’s fastest-growing religion.
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